subs. phr. (general).—A pump; the source of the ‘cooling medium’ for ‘regulating’ milk. Thus, Dr. Wendell Holmes, in The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860):—“It is a common saying of a jockey that he is all horse, and I have often fancied that milkmen get a stiff upright carriage, and an angular movement that reminds one of a pump and the working of a handle.” Also BLACK-COW; ONE-ARMED MAN; and SIMPSON’S COW (q.v.).
1867. Punch. The Rinderpest does not affect the COW WITH THE IRON TAIL.
1872. Standard, 25 Dec. Simpson … is, however, universally accepted as the title for that combined product of the Cow natural, and the COW WITH THE IRON TAIL.
1876. Once a Week, 23 Aug. Every drop of milk brought into Paris is tested at the harriers by the lactometer, to see if the IRON TAILED COW has been guilty of diluting it; if so, the whole of it is remorselessly thrown into the gutter—the Paris milk is very pure in consequence.
